UFC top-10 fighter Donald Cerrone taken out in one round; Opponent James Till declares himself 'best fighter around'

The seventh biggest city in Poland is not typically the place you’d go for a fight card if you were expecting to see the next UFC star step into the spotlight.

On Saturday, though, the Baltic city of Gdansk was a perfectly fine spot for James Till’s UFC coming-out-party.

On a card that was widely overlooked by even the most devout MMA fans, Till made a thundering statement and announced himself as a contender by taking out perennial top-10 fighter Donald Cerrone in less than a round.

The undefeated Till has been on many fans’ list of up-and-coming prospects and has never been shy about calling himself the best.

Few expected him to dispatch of Cerrone with the efficiency he displayed on Saturday, though.

“I believe I’m the best fighter around,” Till said in the octagon afterwards. “I come in here, I believe I can beat anyone in this division.”

That’s a relatively typical Till quote. The guy isn’t short on confidence.

But even among MMA hardcores, the joke heading into Saturday’s fight was that Cerrone — a massive UFC star — had accepted the headlining gig while having no idea who Till actually was.

Nobody is going to make the same mistake again.

Till showed an impressive variety of left-handed punches in the first round, landing uppercuts, overhands and straight counterpunches that kept Cerrone on his back-foot.

With around a minute left, Till unleashed a vicious elbow that stunned Cerrone and followed it up with a barrage of punches that didn’t end until referee Mark Goddard stepped in.

It was an eye-opening performance that should catapult Till into the welterweight top-10 and jump him to the front of the line on the list of top British fighters.

The Muay Thai specialist has shown flashes of greatness before and is undefeated at 15-0-1, but beating an experienced, respected fighter like Cerrone should earn him another big name opponent next.

Weirdly, though, Till’s one misstep of the night came when he called out Mike Perry as his next opponent.

Yes, Perry was in the arena at the time and didn’t hesitate to jump up on the side of the cage to give fans a little made-for-TV trash talk, but the call-out makes little sense for Till.

The 24-year-old could likely have his pick of opponents after beating Cerrone, but opted instead for a guy who is ranked No. 15 in the 170-pound division and isn’t exactly a household name.

At this point, Till should be expected to beat a guy like Perry, so why not shoot for the stars and go after one of the more established welterweights?

Criticizing a guy for making a nonsensical call-out right after the biggest win of his career isn’t really fair, though.

The kid looks like a star, and the next time he fights it’s going to be under a spotlight that’s considerably brighter than the one that the UFC provided on Saturday.

SHE’S BACK

Karolina Kowalkiewicz never really went anywhere, but it was hard to shake the feeling Saturday that she was back.

After losing to Claudia Gadelha earlier this year, the former women’s strawweight challenger seemed to have fallen down the 115-pound pecking order.

On Saturday, she went a long way towards re-establishing herself as one of the very best women’s fighters on the planet by clinically dispatching Jodie Esquibel.

Kowalkiewicz earned herself a unanimous decision victory by thoroughly outstriking her challenger, who was making her UFC debut but was well established in Invicta FC, the top women-only promotion in global MMA.

Fighting in front of an adoring Polish crowd, Kowalkiewicz moved forward relentlessly and picked her moments to do damage. By the time the third round started, she had drawn blood from several cuts on Esquibel’s face and was in complete and total control.

The fight probably won’t get Kowalkiewicz another title shot, but it puts her back on track and may earn her a matchup against Jessica Andrade.

They’ve both lost to champion Joanna Jedrzejczyk in the past year but are established contenders who could easily argue that they’d earned a second shot against the reigning 115-pound queen with a victory.

GET OUTTA HERE

The end may have arrived for Artem Lobov.

The Russian has long been a source of controversy in the UFC because it has at-times felt like his close relationship with Conor McGregor was the only real reason he was being given the chance to compete in the promotion.

On Saturday, he lost a unanimous decision to Andre Fili, so it’s clear that he isn’t getting any closer to being a legitimate contender.

Afterwards, he took to Twitter.

Not sure what the future holds dont want to be retiring & coming back a thousand times. Will think about the futue & update.Thank u all 🇮🇪🇷🇺

“Not sure what the future holds don’t want to be retiring and coming back a thousand times,” Lobov wrote. “Will think about the future and update. Thank you all.”’

If Lobov does retire from competition, it’s still unlikely that fight fans have seen the last of him around the octagon. As a close friend of McGregor, Lobov is going to be hovering around the UFC one way or another.